Orthodox Group Details Accusations That New Jersey Rabbi Abused Teenagers

By ANDREW JACOBS

Published: December 27, 2000

NEWARK, Dec. 26—
The nation's most prominent organization representing Orthodox Judaism released a report today that documents extensive abuse by a New Jersey rabbi who had been a leading figure in education and youth programs for three decades.

The report, commissioned four months ago by the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations, said that the rabbi, Baruch Lanner, a ranking leader of the group, was responsible for an array of sexual, physical and emotional abuse involving dozens of teenagers.

The nine commissioners appointed by the union to investigate the allegations, all Orthodox Jews, blamed the organization's leadership for allowing Rabbi Lanner to remain in his job despite a steady flow of complaints and allegations about his behavior. Although the report does not single out individuals, it states that ''profound errors in judgment'' were made over the years.

Rabbi Lanner, 50, resigned last June as an executive of the group's National Council of Synagogue Youth after The Jewish Week publicized the accounts of 11 adults who said they had been abused as teenagers.

Prosecutors in Monmouth and Bergen Counties are investigating the allegations against the rabbi, who has not been formally accused of any crime.

Rabbi Lanner, who lives in Paramus, did not return calls today seeking comment. He has vehemently denied the charges in the past.

''It's ludicrous,'' he told The New York Times in July when asked about a woman who had told The Jewish Week that he had touched her breasts and genitals when he was the principal of a Monmouth County yeshiva. ''Emphatically, emphatically, emphatically it did not happen.''

The accusations are based on the testimony of 175 witnesses before the commission. According to many of the witnesses, the report said, the rabbi touched the genitalia of teenage girls and used vulgar sexual language, and in numerous instances assaulted male students, often by kneeing young boys in the groin.

The rabbi also employed complex forms of psychological abuse, according to the commission's report. ''Lanner repeatedly targeted students who were having emotional and family problems and engaged in intense and abusive emotional manipulations of these vulnerable adolescents,'' the commissioners wrote.

The commission, headed by Richard Joel, the president of Hillel, a Jewish campus group, recommended a series of organizational changes to prevent a reoccurrence of unchecked abuse. It also suggested that the union provide counseling to those who believe they were traumatized by the rabbi as teenagers.

According to the report, Rabbi Lanner's troubles began soon after he was hired by the Orthodox union's youth division in 1970. In 1972, he was threatened with suspension after he was accused of having sexual contact with two teenage girls. Although he was reprimanded, he was allowed to keep his job and was eventually promoted. In 1987, while the principal of a yeshiva high school in Deal, he was transferred after his superiors said he had fought with a student. The report documented two other instances in which employees at the Orthodox union were informed about the rabbi's misconduct. Its leaders never acted, the report said, because many considered him indispensable.

In 1989, when he was being considered for a job as rabbi of a Teaneck congregation, a former colleague publicly opposed the appointment, citing a history of physical and verbal misconduct. The rabbi convened a religious tribunal, which found the allegations ''unsubstantiated or highly exaggerated.'' The tribunal did, however, conclude that the rabbi kneed teens from time to time and used ''salty'' and ''crude talk with sexual overtones,'' according to the commission's report. He was not hired by the synagogue.

The report also turned up questionable financial practices, saying the rabbi maintained a personal bank account in which he deposited donations meant for the organization. The report did not determine what became of the money.

Dr. Mandell I. Ganchrow, the Orthodox union's president, said he was disturbed by the findings. ''I'm deeply distressed that behavior like this could ever have occurred within our organization,'' he said. ''We sincerely apologize for the pain and suffering these young people experienced as a result of Rabbi's Lanner's actions.''

Dr. Ganchrow, who serves on a volunteer basis, said the organization had already adopted some of the panel's recommendations and would consider many of the others. The board of directors, he said, had already set up a new management program, established a sexual harassment policy and begun organizing sensitivity training for employees.

''This is very painful for us because no one likes to wash their laundry in public,'' he said. ''On the other hand, we're a public organization, we have a public trust and we have to assure our rabbis and congregations that we've learned our lesson from this.''